Airbus A350 XWB
Illustrative image; it may differ from the actual aircraft.The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design, which was proposed in 2004 in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbus A330 with composite wings, advanced winglets, and new efficient engines. Due to inadequate market support, Airbus switched in 2006 to a clean-sheet extra wide body (XWB) design, powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB high bypass turbofan engines. The prototype first flew on 14 June 2013 from Toulouse, France.
Specifications
Figures for the A350-900 variant, the most representative of the family · it is 64% the length of a football pitch
The type first flew in 2013 (13 years ago) · About 700 units built · Still in production
Figures for the type, not for this particular aircraft: each variant and each configuration changes something. They are shown in both systems used in aviation.
The story of the type
Development
Background and early designs
Airbus initially rejected Boeing's claim that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner would be a serious threat to the Airbus A330, stating that the 787 was just a reaction to the A330 and that no response was needed. When airlines urged Airbus to provide a competitor, Airbus initially proposed the "A330-200 Lite", a derivative of the A330 featuring improved aerodynamics and engines similar to those on the 787. The company planned to announce this version at the 2004 Farnborough Airshow, but did not proceed.
On 16 September 2004, Airbus president and chief executive officer Noël Forgeard confirmed the consideration of a new project during a private meeting with prospective customers. Forgeard did not give a project name, and did not state whether it would be an entirely new design or a modification of an existing product. Airline dissatisfaction with this proposal motivated Airbus to commit €4 billion to a new airliner design.
On 10 December 2004, Airbus' shareholders, EADS and BAE Systems, approved the "authorisation to offer" for the A350, expecting a 2010 service entry.
Airbus then expected to win more than half of the 250-300-seat aircraft market, estimated at 3,100 aircraft overall over 20 years.
Based on the A330, the 245-seat A350-800 was to fly over a 8,600 nmi (15,900 km; 9,900 mi) range and the 285-seat A350-900 over a 13,900 km (7,500 nmi; 8,600 mi) range.
Fuel efficiency would improve by over 10% with a mostly carbon fibre reinforced polymer wing and initial General Electric GEnx-72A1 engines, before offering a choice of powerplant.
It had a common fuselage cross-section with the A330 and also a new horizontal stabiliser.
On 13 June 2005 at the Paris Air Show, Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways announced that they had placed an order for 60 A350s. In September 2006 the airline signed a memorandum of understanding with General Electric (GE) to launch the GEnx-1A-72 engine for the new airliner model. Emirates sought a more improved design and decided against ordering the initial version of the A350.
On 6 October 2005, the programme's industrial launch was announced with an estimated development cost of around €3.5 billion. The A350 was initially planned to be a 250 to 300-seat twin-engine wide-body aircraft derived from the existing A330's design. Under this plan, the A350 would have modified wings and new engines while sharing the A330's fuselage cross-section. For this design, the fuselage was to consist primarily of aluminium-lithium rather than the carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) fuselage on the Boeing 787. The A350 would see entry in two versions: the A350-800 with a 8,800 nmi (16,300 km; 10,100 mi) range with a typical passenger capacity of 253 in a three-class configuration, and the A350-900 with 7,500 nmi (13,900 km; 8,600 mi) range and a 300-seat three-class configuration. The A350 was designed to be a direct competitor to the Boeing 787-9 and 777-200ER.
The original A350 design was publicly criticised by two of Airbus's largest customers, International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS). On 28 March 2006, ILFC President Steven F. Udvar-Házy urged Airbus to pursue a clean-sheet design or risk losing market share to Boeing and branded Airbus's strategy as "a Band-aid reaction to the 787", a sentiment echoed by GECAS president Henry Hubschman. In April 2006, while reviewing bids for the Boeing 787 and A350, the CEO of Singapore Airlines (SIA) Chew Choon Seng, commented that "having gone through the trouble of designing a new wing, tail, and cockpit, [Airbus] should have gone the whole hog and designed a new fuselage".
Airbus responded that they were considering A350 improvements to satisfy customer demands. Airbus's then-CEO Gustav Humbert stated, "Our strategy isn't driven by the needs of the next one or two campaigns, but rather by a long-term view of the market and our ability to deliver on our promises." As major airlines such as Qantas and Singapore Airlines selected the 787 over the A350, Humbert tasked an engineering team to produce new alternative designs. One such proposal, known internally as "1d", formed the basis of the A350 redesign.
Redesign and launch
On 14 July 2006, during the Farnborough International Airshow, the redesigned aircraft was designated "A350 XWB" (Xtra-Wide-Body). Within four days, Singapore Airlines agreed to order 20 A350 XWBs with options for another 20 A350 XWBs.
The proposed A350 was a new design, including a wider fuselage cross-section, allowing seating arrangements ranging from an eight-across low-density premium economy layout to a ten-across high-density seating configuration for a maximum seating capacity of 440–475 depending on variant. The A330 and previous iterations of the A350 would only be able to accommodate a maximum of eight seats per row. The 787 is typically configured for nine seats per row. The 777 accommodates nine or ten seats per row, with more than half of recent 777s being configured in a ten-across layout that will come standard on the 777X.
Variants
The three main variants of the A350 were launched in 2006, with entry into service planned for 2013. At the 2011 Paris Air Show, Airbus postponed the entry into service of the A350-1000 by two years to mid-2017. In July 2012, the A350's entry into service was delayed to the second half of 2014, before the -900 began service on 15 January 2015. In October 2012, the -800 was due to enter service in mid-2016, but its development was cancelled in September 2014 in favour of the reengined Airbus A330neo. The A350 is also offered as the ACJ350 corporate jet by Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ), offering a 20,000 km; 12,400 mi (10,800 nmi) range for 25 passengers for the -900 derivative.
The A350-900 (ICAO code: A359) is the first A350 model; it has a MTOW of 283 tonnes (624,000 lb) when powered by the Trent XWB-84 or 255 tonnes (562,000 lb) when powered by the Trent XWB-75, typically seats 325 passengers, and has a range of 8,500 nmi (15,700 km; 9,800 mi). Airbus says that per seat, the Boeing 777-200ER should have a 16% heavier manufacturer's empty weight, a 30% higher block fuel consumption, and 25% higher cash operating costs than the A350-900. The −900 is designed to compete with the Boeing 777-200LR and 787-10, while replacing the Airbus A340-500 and Boeing 777-200ER.
A proposed A350−900R extended-range variant was to feature the higher engine thrust, strengthened structure, and landing gear of the 308-tonne (679,000 lb) MTOW -1000 to give a further 800 nmi (1,500 km; 920 mi) range.
Philippine Airlines (PAL) announced in 2016 that it will replace its A340-300 with an A350-900HGW ("high-gross weight") variant available from 2017, which it received in July 2018. It enabled non-stop Manila-New York City flights without payload limitations in either direction, a 7,404 nmi (13,712 km; 8,520 mi) flight. The PAL version will have a 278 tonnes (613,000 lb) MTOW, and from 2020, the -900 will be proposed with the ULR's 280 tonnes (620,000 lb) MTOW, up from the 268 tonnes (591,000 lb) for the original weight variant and the certified 260, 272, and 275 tonnes (573,000, 600,000, and 606,000 lb) variants, with the large fuel capacity. This will enable an 8,100 nmi (15,000 km; 9,300 mi) range with 325 seats in a three-class layout.
In early November 2017, Emirates committed to purchase 40 Boeing 787-10 aircraft before Airbus presented an updated A350-900 layout with the rear pressure bulkhead pushed back by 2.5 ft (76 cm). After Emirates' Tim Clark was shown a ten-across economy cabin and galley changes, he said the -900 is "more marketable" as a result.
The average lease rates of the first A350-900s produced in 2014 were $1.1 million per month, not including maintenance reserves amounting to $18 million after 10–12 years, and falling to $940,000 per month in 2018 while a new A350-900 is leased for $1.2 million per month and its interior can cost $12 million, 10% of the aircraft.
By 2018, a 2014 build was valued $108M falling to $74.5M by 2022 while a new build was valued for $148M, a 6+12 year check cost $3M and an engine overhaul $4–6.5M.
Designated as weight variant 13 (WV013), the MTOW of the ultra-long range -900ULR has been increased to 280 t (620,000 lb) and its fuel capacity increased from 141,000 to 165,000 L (37,000 to 44,000 US gal) within existing fuel tanks, enabling up to 19-hour flights with a 9,700 nmi (18,000 km; 11,200 mi) range, the longest range of any airliner in service as of 2023. The MTOW is increased by 5 tonnes (11,000 lb) from the previously certified 275 tonnes (606,000 lb) variant. Because of the A350-900's fuel consumption of 5.8 tonnes (13,000 lb) per hour, it needs an additional 24 tonnes (53,000 lb) of fuel to fly 19 hours instead of the standard 15 hours: the increased MTOW and lower payloads will enable the larger fuel capacity. Non-stop flights could last more than 20 hours. The first −900ULR was rolled out without its engines in February 2018 for ground testing. Flight-tests after engine installation checked the larger fuel capacity and measured the performance improvements from the extended winglets.
Where this type is seen
From our logbook: 38 aircraft of this type documented at 56 airports.
A count of our own aircraft profiles, year by year, from the public United States flight records: it reflects what we have documented, not the airport’s total traffic.
Overview and history adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) · technical figures from the manufacturer’s published specifications and standard aviation references
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This page was last updated on October 10, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 10). Airbus A350 XWB. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/a350
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“Airbus A350 XWB.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 10 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/model/a350. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
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BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_model_a350,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Airbus A350 XWB}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-10},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/a350},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/a350}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/a350 |title=Airbus A350 XWB |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-10 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}